Russian nostalgia of the playwright Ostrovsky. The early works of A. N. Ostrovsky as a historical source for studying the objective world of merchants (on the example of a merchant's house) How does the Ostrovsky world of merchants show

Detailed plan of the composition ""Merchant and citizenship" in N.V. Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector""
I Introduction
1. The question of how the “merchants and citizenship” will react to the arrival of the auditor worries the Governor. He believes, not without reason, that a stream of complaints will fall upon the visiting official. Representatives of the merchant class and citizenship could tell about the many abuses perpetrated by the city authorities.
2. Who is the “merchants and citizenship” represented in the play? By the decree of Catherine II of 1775, a division into estates was established in Russia, of which the peasantry, merchants and philistinism belonged to the taxable, that is, those liable to pay taxes. Merchants and philistines (the latter Gorodnichy calls "citizenship") were subject to recruitment duties and were limited in their freedom of movement. The tradesmen included artisans, small merchants and homeowners, they were freedmen or peasants who ransomed from serfdom, soldiers who served their term of service, but never nobles, even impoverished ones, therefore Bobchinsky and Dobchinsky find themselves surrounded by Gorodnichy and are not opposed to him.
Merchants:
a. Merchant Abdulin.
b. Merchant Chernyaev.
v. Other merchants, whose names are not named.
Philistines:
a. Innkeeper.
b. Teachers.
v. Non-commissioned widow.
Slesarsha Fevronya Petrovna Poshlepkina.
e. Desyatsky, who were chosen from the townspeople from every tenth household to assist the police. "Help" is really about sweeping the streets.
e. Other residents of the city.
3. It should be said that all representatives of the “merchants and citizenship” in the play are secondary or episodic characters. There are non-stage characters whom V. Nabokov, describing Gogol's creative method, calls "homunculi", born of the author's poetic imagination (V. Nabokov, "Nikolai Gogol").
4. Many crimes and misdemeanors are on account of Gorodnichiy and other officials of the county town, and representatives of the “merchants and citizenship” often become the injured parties. However, the attitude of the author to the "injured party" is very ambiguous.
II main part
5. Misdemeanors of the Governor are varied and are mainly related to his desire to enrich himself at the expense of his neighbor, to deceive the state. Anton Antonovich calls them "sins". The surname "Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky" can be considered "speaking": "skvoznik" is associated with "draft", and "dmukhnut" - "to blow", that is, there is an association with the expression "blowing beast".
a. Exorbitant charges.
b. Torture. He forcibly fed the merchants with herring.
v. “Let’s wait, he froze,” that is, he constantly sent military or officials who came to the city for temporary residence to merchant and bourgeois houses for temporary residence. Obviously, the Governor expected a bribe from the landlords for getting rid of this duty.
d. "He doesn't act according to his actions." That is, he does not appreciate the humility of merchants and philistines, punishes both the right and the guilty, robs everyone without mercy.
e. “It takes everything, whatever it gets.”
e. He invented a second name day for himself in order to receive more offerings.
well. In his reign, a non-commissioned officer's widow was whipped. Women, having married, were assigned to the same estate and rank as their husbands. A non-commissioned officer is a lower rank, but still this is not an ordinary soldier or a peasant who could be flogged with impunity. The mayor had to pay a fine for the insult inflicted on the non-commissioned officer.
h. A married locksmith was shaved into soldiers. By law, it was impossible to give a married man to the soldiers, but the parents of those whose turn it was to go into recruits paid off with large bribes.
and. Participated in the plundering of money intended for the construction of the temple.
j. Did not fight the abuses perpetrated by other representatives of the city authorities.
6. Misdemeanors of officials
a. The trustee of charitable institutions Artemy Filippovich Strawberry - "a rogue and a rogue." The charitable institutions under his command are poor and neglected, apparently, the trustee sends funds intended for charitable institutions into his own pocket.
b. The superintendent of the schools, Luka Lukich Khlopov, is not able to keep order in the department entrusted to him. This frightened and miserable little man himself admits that he is "afraid of everything." There are no freethinkers in his department, but there are insane and unbalanced teachers.
v. Judge Ammos Fedorovich Lyapki-Tyapkin - after the Governor the second person in the city - is more passionate about hunting than business, does not hide the fact that he takes bribes with greyhound puppies. The judge had an assessor, a bitter drunkard. Cases in court were neglected and confused so much that even the inspector could hardly understand them.
Mr. Postmaster Ivan Kuzmich Shpekin reads correspondence, that is, he reads other people's letters, and even keeps the ones he likes.
e. The private bailiff Stepan Ilyich Ukhovertov and the police are rude and prone to theft. The quarterly steals silver spoons in a tavern. "Ukhovertov", "Derzhimorda" - "talking names", testifying to the methods by which these representatives of the authorities restore order in the city. The mayor says: “Yes, tell Derzhimorda not to give too much will to his fists; for the sake of order, he puts lanterns under the eyes of everyone: both the right and the guilty.
I recommend that you carefully read the text of the play and find as many examples of abuse as possible!
7. How do "merchants and citizenship" react to the abuses perpetrated by the city authorities?
a. Merchants are ready to give bribes, they are only dissatisfied with the amount of requisitions.
b. No one is indignant at the fact that a temple has not been built, that the streets are dirty, that the hospital does not work well, that half-mad teachers teach children; people complain to Khlestakov about personal troubles, do not think about how the city looks like, how the poor and destitute live in it.
v. The non-commissioned officer's widow believes that being flogged is "great happiness", since now you can demand a fine for an insult inflicted on her.
Mr. Slesarsha is an intemperate and rude woman, not love, but a consumer attitude towards her husband makes her resent the fact that her husband was shaved into soldiers.
e. In the second apparition of the last (fifth) act, the merchants congratulate the Gorodnichiy and beg for mercy.
e. The only positive face in comedy is laughter. This is true, since the "merchants and citizens" who suffered from the arbitrariness of officials differ little in moral qualities from their tormentors. They seem to suffer, but do not arouse the sympathy of the author.
III Conclusion
In Gogol's play, the role of secondary, episodic and off-stage characters, united on a social basis as "merchants and citizenship", is great.
It would seem that the inhabitants of the county town suffered from the arbitrariness of officials, but they themselves do not oppose arbitrariness, they are ready to give bribes, live in a city where it is dirty and uncomfortable, and arrange dumps near any fence, curse the tormentors, shower them with terrible curses, but rejoice at the opportunity for to get some kind of recompense for their suffering.
“Merchant and citizenship” does not stand on the side of justice, therefore neither merchants nor citizens can be considered positive heroes opposed to city officials.
The only positive face in N.V. Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector" is laughter. More often it is satirical laughter “through tears invisible to the world”, but it also contains notes of humor, irony, sarcasm.

Among the Russian classics there are many original talented authors who managed to lift the veil of Russian life with their work, accurately and realistically identify the main social problems. Among them, the name of A.N. Ostrovsky, a famous playwright of the 19th century. He himself comes from a merchant's environment, he surprisingly accurately showed in his plays the world of the merchants, this "dark kingdom" of provincial Russian towns. The heroes of his works live among wild customs and customs. The masters of life are those who have money, the rest do not even have the right to think and act in their own way. A striking example of the new merchants are the heroes of the play "Dowry".

In this article, we will take a closer look at the image of the merchants, and also compare it with an earlier work, with The Thunderstorm.

The play was written in 1874-1878; Two worlds appeared before the audience: the world of money, or material, embodied in the images of Paratov, Vozhevatov, Knurov, Ogudalova, and the world of love, or spiritual, shown by the image of Larisa Dmitrievna. The main theme of the play is the theme of "little people". It is very accurately set off by the images of the new merchant class.

Who are they, the masters of life? Consider the example of the main characters

The most striking character, of course, is Paratov. This is “a brilliant gentleman from the shipowners, over 30 years old,” as the author himself says about him. Ostrovsky endows his hero with a prudent mind, which very conveniently complements his attractive appearance. In such a man, rich and charming, it is simply impossible not to fall in love. And Larisa Dmitrievna fell in love with him. But for Paratov, she was just a toy. He is accustomed to the world meekly lying at his feet, and all people obey him, because he is rich. But he is not able to see the fragile and tender soul of Larisa who believed him.

Vasily Vozhevatov, young, mercenary, according to the author, "one of the representatives of a wealthy trading company." He has known Larisa Dmitrievna since childhood, knows everything about her life. He also knows Paratov well, for whom only money is important.

Knurov, a man in years, married, wants to become the patron of Larisa. His fortune is enormous, he can afford a kept woman, especially such an attractive one.

Ogudalova Harita Ignatievna, the mother of Larisa Dmitrievna, lives beyond her means, which she constantly begs from her daughter's suitors.

Distinctive features of the merchant class

We can observe that the merchant class in the "Dowry" has acquired its own distinctive features. These are no longer the wild and ignorant people that Ostrovsky describes in The Thunderstorm. Their style and way of life has changed, they join the culture, they speak correctly, beautifully; read French newspapers, wear European costumes. But their morality remained at the same level as that of Kabanikh or Wild from Thunderstorm.

The image of Larisa Dmitrievna

Larisa Dmitrievna is a dowry. Therefore, they believe that she has no right to their love, or even to a respectful attitude. She is only a thing for them, albeit a beautiful one, therefore the only role that they assign to her is the decoration of their rich company, a remedy for boredom. Paratov accepted her love, because it is beneficial for him today, and the next day he deftly refuses it. Larisa Dmitrievna cannot be his wife, because she has no dowry. And for Paratov, money is more important than love.

Knurov and Vozhevatov behave no better either. They play it cynically. A girl without a dowry for them is also an animated object that can be bought. Knurov is rich, so he wins it, and he is not afraid of people's condemnation. A wealthy merchant believes that his money will do its job - "the most evil critics of someone else's morality will have to be silenced."

Death for Larisa Dmitrievna turned out to be the best way out. Only in this way her fiancé, ridiculed by Paratov and his company, was able to maintain the remnants of pride and self-esteem. As is his fiancee.

Let's generalize

Thus, we see how the merchant world in the plays of A.N. Ostrovsky changes a little. From a very “dark kingdom” with dense morals and traditions in early works to some refinement that can bring the new merchant class closer to high society. We see these external changes of the merchants in the "Dowry", these people have acquired some gloss: they monitor their appearance, speech, habits, they have become educated. But the internal content remained at the same level. Love, compassion, mercy, humanity and other humanistic traits still do not exist for them. Everything in their world is defined by money. And the more of them, the richer in impressions and more fun their life will be.

With the play "Dowry" Ostrovsky challenges society, which should think about the fact that there is nothing more important and valuable than human life. And the right to the dignity of the “little man” must also be respected.

Article provided by Tatiana Dones.

You can find other materials for school essays

The merchant class is widely represented by Ostrovsky in his work “Thunderstorm”. My story will go about him.

Let's start with Storm. Before us are representatives of the "old school of entrepreneurs" of the 19th century, two families, Kabanikhs and Dikikhs. Let's take a look at the Kabanikha. She is the clear antagonist of the play. Sometimes one gets the impression that Ostrovsky sat at his writer's desk for a long time, remembering all the stereotypes, all the images of that society, carefully choosing the most rotten of it in order to show them to you and me through such a character as Kabanikha.

She is overly strict, a usurper, as they would say about her today, a person who is trying to satisfy her pride and raise self-esteem through other people, and for her it doesn’t matter at all what kind of people - whether strangers, relatives, next to her, everyone always suffers (without taking in the calculation of Feklush, who was just used to all this, so to speak, adapted). Wild, in comparison with the Boar, wins back positions a little: he becomes a usurper periodically, and not always. But he has a more significant drawback: he robs his own employees, making their already unsweetened life even more bitter. On the Internet, in many articles and writings, the behavior of Diky in relation to Boris is presented as negative, they say, “what is he, is it a pity or something?” I have my own point of view on this issue: Dikoy has every right to decide not to give the inheritance to Boris, because a person must pay for his own and other people's mistakes, especially if these mistakes are made in such a document as a will. For a psychologist, Dikoy would be a real find, since he has a rather rare property of sublimation: he splashes out negative energy (for example, sediment on the soul after notations from a superior person) not into creativity, as happens with most of us, but on the people around him. Summing up, the merchants before the serf era seemed to me somehow old-fashioned, old-fashioned, when everything is decided by the traditions of their ancestors, their superstitions and customs, when freethinking is a sin for which the society of that time will simply throw you out of its boat.

In general, summing up, it is worth saying that any society changes sooner and later. Merchants are no exception. Ostrovsky showed that for some twenty years, it has changed dramatically, but remained standing on the same shaky foundation of its temptations. Having a lot of money, a person begins to restrain himself less, his assessment of others changes to the point of not being recognized: despising other people for their poverty, he ceases to consider them as people. Of course, there are people who have overcome these vices of high society, but only a few of them. In pursuit of money, a person begins to evaluate everything in material terms, any service, any feeling for him acquires a price. Since then, little has changed, the same capitalism (slightly modified, but not the essence), the same pursuit of wealth. The same man and his vices.

Writing

A. N. Ostrovsky is not just a master of drama. This is a very sensitive writer who loves his land, his people, his history. His plays attract attention with amazing moral purity, genuine humanity.

The characters of this playwright are people of their era. Merchants, their wives and children, matchmakers, clerks, clerks, servants, nobles, teachers, actors, robbers, holy fools entered the theater stage with the works of Ostrovsky ... And each character has his own character, speaks his own language, carries the features of his era and your social circle.

The Thunderstorm was written in 1859, at a time when the social movement was on the rise and the need for political and economic change was felt by all. The playwright very accurately and vividly reproduced the atmosphere of the patriarchal merchant class, from which it smells of mossy, narrow-mindedness, savagery, which does not know the desire for knowledge, interest in discoveries in the field of science, in socio-political and economic problems.

The only enlightened person in the play, Kuligin, looks like an eccentric in the eyes of the townspeople. His disinterested desire to be useful does not meet with the support of the townspeople. But he does not oppose Kalinov's world, humbly endures not only ridicule, but also rudeness and insult.

One gets the impression that Kalinov is fenced off from the whole world by a high fence and lives some kind of special, closed life. This is a typical picture of Russian provinciality. The playwright focused on the most important, showing the wretchedness and savagery of the customs of the Russian patriarchal way of life.

Why is there no place for the new, the fresh? Because all this life is based on habitual, outdated laws that seem completely ridiculous to us. This is standing still. Stagnation. Its consequences are terrible and unpredictable. People either get dumber or adapt. And, rarely, they try to protest. Stagnation is always possible when it is supported by people in power. Those in Kalinov are Wild and Kabanikha.

It is no coincidence that only three are fully named in the list of characters: Savel Prokofievich Dikoi, a merchant, a significant person in the city; Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova, wealthy merchant's wife, widow; Tikhon Ivanovich Kabanov, her son. They are honorary citizens of their city. These are three different characters, but they are all generated by the "dark kingdom". Wild is depicted in only three scenes, but we are presented with a complete image, a type of tyrant.

Ostrovsky not only introduced the word "tyrant" into the literature, but also investigated why such a phenomenon occurs, on what basis. And this soil is unlimited power and the absence of true culture. Wild swaggers in front of his nephew, in front of his family, but retreats before those who are able to rebuff him. Rude and unceremonious, he can no longer be otherwise. Even speech distinguishes Wild from other characters.

Already the first appearance of this hero on stage reveals his nature. He takes advantage of the fact that his nephew Boris is financially dependent on him: “Baklushy, what, he came here to beat! Parasite! You are lost. Once I told you, twice I said to you: "Do not dare to meet me"; "You're itching for everything!"; "fail you!" etc. Dika behaves differently with Kabanova, although she is rude to her out of habit.

In the Wild there are features inherent in the people. Thus, he perceives the phenomena of nature in purely religious traditions. To Kuligin's request to give money for the construction of a lightning rod, Dikoy proudly replies: "All is vanity." Tightness and unbridledness are, of course, not purely individual qualities of the Wild. These are typical features of the patriarchal merchant class. But after all, it stood out from the people's environment. But, breaking away from popular culture, this part of the merchant class lost the best aspects of the people's character.

Marfa Ignatievna Kabanova is perceived as a strong and domineering character. After the death of her husband, she took all power in the house into her own hands. And not only in the house, but also in the city, no one dares to enter into an argument with her. Kabanikha takes Domostroevsky orders seriously. She is sincerely saddened by the decline in morality among young people, the disrespectful attitude towards the laws to which she herself unconditionally obeyed. The heroine stands up for a strong, lasting family, for order in the house, which, according to her ideas, is possible only if all the rules prescribed by the house-builder are observed. She is concerned about the future of her children - Tikhon and Barbara.

The Thunderstorm is a wonderful textbook for studying the merchant life of that time. This life is shown in the play from all sides - both from within the merchant circle itself, and through the attitude towards it of people who are not included there.

Another work in which Ostrovsky showed the life of the merchants was "Forest". This comedy was written in 1871, when the old way of life in post-reform Russia was being rebuilt in a new way. In his work, Ostrovsky reflected the state of Russian society at that time. The writer managed to cover a fairly wide range of social strata, brought together people whom it would have been impossible to imagine together before: representatives of the district nobility, provincial actors, merchants, a poor pupil, a half-educated high school student.

The comedy "Forest" is closely connected with its time: the fates of the characters fit into a great historical time. In a concentrated form, all changes in the life of society were reflected in the family. With the collapse of serfdom, the patriarchal foundations in the life of society and the family are destroyed. The person is alone with himself. All this is happening against the backdrop of completely new economic relations.

In the very first act, we learn that the fate of the forest that Raisa Pavlovna Gurmyzhskaya is selling decides the fate of many people. The huge estates of Gurmyzhskaya are melting away, they are being bought up by yesterday's "muzhik", the merchant Vosmibratov. The landlords are aware that under the ax of Vosmibratov the forests surrounding their estates and symbolizing the inviolability of feudal relations are dying. They understand that Vosmibratov will not regret the forms of life habitual for the “noble nests”, he will not regret the beauty of the forests. In the play, Ostrovsky shows the clash of the material interests of the landowners and the bourgeoisie.

It would seem that these two plays are only twelve years apart, but how different are the characters and worldview of the characters! If in The Thunderstorm the old merchants are trying with all their might to keep the penetration of everything new into life, to preserve patriarchal traditions and betray them to their children, then in the play The Forest, the desire for new things and changes embraced almost everyone, even representatives of the older generation. At the same time, all the rules of decency and tact are forgotten. Well, signs of the times, and Ostrovsky reflected them in his works as accurately as possible.

"Own people - let's settle" (original titles "Insolvent debtor", "Bankrupt" and "Bankrupt, or Our people - let's settle") - a comedy in 4 acts by Alexander Ostrovsky in 1849. The first public reading of the play took place on December 3, 1849 - in the house of MP Pogodin, where Nikolai Gogol was among those present. After being published in the Moskvityanin magazine in 1850, the play was a huge success with readers. Famous Russian writers also reacted to the publication. Goncharov pointed to the "author's knowledge of the Russian language and the heart of a Russian person" and "the skillful introduction of a dramatic element into comedy." Tolstoy wrote: "All comedy is a miracle ... Ostrovsky is not jokingly a brilliant dramatic writer." However, the play received a negative review from the censor Mikhail Alexandrovich Gedeonov, and its production was banned at the direction of Nicholas I with the words "... it was printed in vain, it is forbidden to play it ...". The author was placed under police supervision, removed in 1855. The play was officially allowed to be staged in an abridged form in December 1860. The performance was held at the Aleksanrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg on January 16, 1961. For the first time in its original version, the play was staged on April 30, 1881 at the private theater of Anna Alekseevna Brenco "Near the monument to Pushkin" in Moscow. The plays of Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky are often called a “window” into the merchant world of creations, there were merchants of all guilds, shopkeepers, clerks, petty officials ... Ostrovsky was even called “Columbus of Zamoskvorechye”, because he, like Columbus, opened the whole world to the Russian reader - the world of Moscow Zamoskvorechye, “ countries" of the Moscow merchants. The playwright did not invent many plots for his comedies, but took them directly from life. The experience of serving in Moscow courts was useful to him, where property disputes, cases of false bankruptcies, conflicts over inheritance were considered. Ostrovsky, it seems, simply transferred all this to the pages of his plays. One of these comedies, taken from the very thick of merchant life, was the comedy "Bankrupt", which the playwright wrote at the very end of the 40s of the 19th century. It was published in the magazine "Moskvityanin" in 1850 with the title "Our people - let's settle!" and brought the young author well-deserved fame. The plot of the comedy is based on a case of fraud, which was very common in the last century among the merchants: a wealthy merchant, Samson Silych Bolshov, borrowed a fairly large amount of money from other merchants, not wanting to return it, declared bankruptcy. And he transferred all his property to the name of the “faithful person” - the clerk Lazar Podkhalyuzin, for whom, for greater confidence and peace of mind, he marries his daughter Lipochka, Olympiada Samsonovna. The insolvent debtor Bolshov is imprisoned (debt hole), but Samson Silych is sure that his daughter and son-in-law will pay a small amount of money for him from the property received and he will be released. However, events do not develop at all as Bolshov would like: Lipochka and Podkhalyuzin did not pay a penny, and poor Bolshov is forced to go to prison. It would seem that there is nothing interesting and entertaining in this story: one swindler deceived another swindler. But the comedy is interesting not for its complex plot, but for the truth of life, which, it seems to me, forms the basis of all Ostrovsky's works. With what accuracy and realism all the characters of the comedy are drawn! Take, for example, Bolshov. This is a rude, ignorant person, a real tyrant. He was used to commanding and managing everything. Samson Silych orders his daughter to marry Podkhalyuzin, completely disregarding her desires: “Important matter! Do not dance to me on her pipe in my old age. For whom I command, for that I will go. My brainchild: I want to eat with porridge, I want to butter butter ... ”Bolshov himself started from the bottom,“ he traded with bare heads ”; in his childhood he was generously rewarded with “pokes” and “slaps”, but now he has saved up money, became a merchant and is already scolding and urging everyone. Of course, the harsh "school of life" raised him in his own way: he became rude, resourceful, even became a swindler. At the end of the play, he also causes some sympathy, because he was cruelly betrayed by his own daughter and deceived by "his" man - Podkhalyuzin, whom he trusted so much! Podkhalyuzin is an even bigger swindler than Bolshov. He managed not only to deceive the owner, but also to win the favor of Lipochka, who at first did not want to marry him. This is, as it were, a “new” Bolshov, even more cynical and arrogant, more in line with the mores of the new time - the time of gain. But there is another character in the play who is inextricably linked with the previous ones. This is the boy Tishka. For the time being, he still serves "on errands", but little by little, by a pretty penny, he begins to collect his capital, and over time, obviously, he will become the "new" Podkhalyuzin.

Particularly interesting in comedy, it seems to me, is the image of Lipochka. She dreams of a groom "from the noble" and does not want to marry some "merchant"; give her a groom “not snub-nosed, without fail, so that he would be a brunette; well, of course, so that he was dressed in a magazine way ... ”She does not look like merchants of the past; she wants to add the nobility to her father's money. How reminiscent of Molière's comedy The Tradesman in the Nobility! however, the cunning Podkhalyuzin easily convinced her that with her father's money and with his resourcefulness they could live even better than the "noble". Lipochka, like Podkhalyuzin, does not arouse the slightest sympathy in us.

All characters of the play, both main and secondary (matchmaker Ustinya Naumovna, housekeeper Fominichna and others) are depicted satirically. Ostrovsky at the beginning of his work immediately declared himself as a satirist, a successor to the tradition of D. I. Fonvizin, A. S. Griboyedov, N. V. Gogol. And the subsequent creations of the playwright only strengthened and expanded his fame.